Sundance Channel to Co-Produce Original Mini-Series RESTLESS

Bolstering its scripted programming slate, Sundance Channel is co-producing RESTLESS, a two part original mini-series slated to premiere December 2012. Celebrated award-winning contemporary British novelist William Boyd penned both the book and script, which depicts the thrilling story of a daughter who discovers that her mother was recruited as a spy during World War II. The series will be produced by Emmy Award winner Hilary BEvan Jones ("State of Play," "The Girl in the Café") under her shingle Endor Productions and directed by acclaimed theater and television director Edward Hall.

The cast includes Hayley Atwell ("Any Human Heart," "Captain America") Rufus Sewell ("Pillars of the Earth," "Zen"), Michelle Dockery ("Downton Abbey", "Anna Karenina"), Michael Gambon ("Page Eight," Luck) and Charlotte Rampling ("Melancholia," "The Eye of the Storm"). Filming will commence this summer in South Africa and the UK, and will air in December 2012.

Sarah Barnett, General Manager of Sundance Channel, stated, "Restless' is a compelling new tale of espionage, complete with fresh, arresting characters and surprise at every turn. That - along with the roster of talent associated with this production - makes 'Restless' a perfect addition to our original scripted programming line-up. We aim with our scripted work to create high quality, engaging stories told from a singular point of view - like the Golden Globe(R) award winning 'Carlos' and the Golden Globe nominated 'Appropriate Adult.' We're delighted that 'Restless' is our next scripted project to air on Sundance Channel."

Screenwriter and author, William Boyd says: "To have the chance to film a novel like Restless is the sort of opportunity that only a television adaptation can provide. It represents the most enticing and alluring of possibilities - not only to tell an enthralling story of wartime espionage, love and betrayal but also to lift the lid on one of the last secrets of the Second World War."

What becomes of your life when everything you thought was solid and certain about it turns out to be a fantastically complicated lie? This happens to Ruth Gilmartin (Michelle Dockery) when, one day in 1976, her mother Sally (Charlotte Rampling) suddenly tells her she has been living a double life. She is not respectable Sally Gilmartin but in fact Eva Delectorskaya, a spy for the British Secret Service who has been on the run for thirty years.

Eva's story begins in Paris in 1939. Eva (Hayley Attwell), a beautiful Russian émigrée, is recruited for the British Secret by Lucas Romer (Rufus Sewell), a mysteriously alluring Englishman. As Romer trains Eva to become the perfect spy their love affair begins. When a crucial mission collapses in the USA and Eva finds herself in terrible, fatal jeopardy she knows she has no option but to run and hide - forever. Once a spy always a spy. No-one can be trusted. But now Sally Gilmartin yearns to end her years of restless watching and waiting. Thirty years on, the only man who can bring this about is her former lover and spymaster, Lucas Romer, now Baron Mansfield of Hampton Cleeve (Michael Gambon), and the only person she can call on for help is her daughter, Ruth. The final chapter of this epic story of love, duplicity and betrayal is about to end - and who will pay the greatest price remains to be discovered.

RESTLESS (3x60") is made by Endor Productions in association with Sundance Channel for BBC One. It is produced by Hilary BEvan Jones and Paul Frift for Endor and the Executive Producers are William Boyd with Matthew Read for BBC and Christian Vesper for Sundance Channel.

Producer, Hilary BEvan Jones says, "Restless weaves a great love story within a riveting espionage thriller. Trust, betrayal and the need to escape the past are at the heart of this story; and Will has brought these themes to the screen with great elan."